Ginny and Draco had a rule. A rule that was strictly enforced after one of them pulled an all-nighter, or an almost all-nighter. The rule was that unless there was a body or something equally huge they didn't wake each other up. So when Draco was there shaking her awake, she just knew he had better have a good reason or she was going to hex him into next Sunday despite his bloody good cooking.

"I take your grunt," Draco began, "to mean that you want to know why I am waking you. Well, we've had a new case, which seems very much related to the old case, pop up. Except this girl escaped somehow."

Ginny sat up, her curly hair wild and standing up like a mane around her head. Her eyes were squinty from tiredness, and the freckles on her nose stood out in sharp contrast to her pale face. If Draco were a man who called women beautiful, he would use that word to describe Ginny Weasley when she woke up in a too-big shirt and a pair of his old shorts that she had stolen from him somehow.

But Draco wasn't that man. He was a pompous, arrogant arse who thought too highly of himself. And there was just no way in hell he would ever let Ginny Weasley know that she unsettled him and made his heart rate triple.

"Wait, what?" Ginny said with a yawn punctuation the question.

Draco sat down on the edge of her bed and began to explain. "Lavender Brown, age twenty-six, had been missing for a week. Well, she was found by Muggle authorities wandering in London. She was clearly tortured, much like Pansy had been, and unable to speak much except to say Hogwarts over and over. Thank Merlin one of ours was there to intercept her and get her to St. Mungos. The cuts and bruising look very much like what we saw on Pansy."

Ginny sat there for a moment in complete silence before saying, "Are you telling me this dude is a fucking serial killer?"

"No," Draco said, "Because Lavender Brown is somehow still alive. We are all guessing she escaped. She won't talk to anyone, but she does keep saying Weasley, so we figured we'd take you in and see how that goes."

Ginny groaned long and loud at the cruelty of the Gods to intrude on her only Saturday off this month.

"Yes, yes, Weasley. Life is unfair, but this poor girl needs a woman's touch, even if yours is a bit lacking in all things feminine."

Ginny blinked at him with her doe eyes. "I'm girly!" she retorted.

"Weasley," Draco laughed, "you don't even cook."

Ginny opened her mouth, ready to tell Draco Fucking Malfoy that it was sexist to assume one had to know how to cook to be girly. She had an entire argument planned out that would decimate him and his bloody wrong opinion, but there was a knock on the front door of her flat.

Ginny furrowed her brow, looked down the hall towards the front door, and then looked back at Draco.

"Did you bring someone?" she asked.

"No. I have a Floo-key good for only one, remember? I've no clue who that is," Draco said, eyes tightening.

Ginny grabbed her wand and made for the front door before Draco could stop her. But of course he couldn't just let his partner face possible death alone, so he took off after her, his wand drawn and thoughts of stupid Gryffindor bravery running through his head.

Ginny Weasley was short, and by short Draco Malfoy meant that Ginny was five feet tall, where as he was six feet tall. She couldn't even reach the peephole in the door to see who was standing outside. So Draco looked for her, and what he saw made his day.

"Oh Weasley, we could have so much fun with this," he smirked, looking down at her.

"Who is it?" she whispered, as though there wasn't a spell in place to prevent anyone from hearing them.

"Your ex-fiance. You're in my clothes, and I'm at your flat first thing in the morning," Draco told her.

Ginny stood there for a moment, thinking it over. But a chance to maybe piss off Harry or by extension Charlie was too good to pass up. Draco was only in a t-shirt and jeans, and Ginny told him to take off his shirt.

"What, not even going to buy me a drink first?" he joked.

Ginny merely rolled her eyes and took his shirt. She told him to bend down and she mussed up his hair, then ran back to the bedroom and let Draco 'sleepily' open the door.

"Alright, hold on." Draco feigned exhaustion and slowly opened the door.

Ginny had a perfect view from her bed, and Harry looked like his mouth was waiting on a dick to slide in it was open so wide.

"Yes?" Draco asked after a moment.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Harry demanded.

Ginny covered her mouth, trying desperately not to giggle.

"Well, I was trying this awesome thing called sleep before your incessant knocking, Potter," Malfoy deadpanned.

"Here?" Harry asked.

Draco nodded. "Yes, Potter, here. Is there some reason you are here?"

Harry stood still for a moment before saying, "But Ron said he talked to you."

Ginny couldn't see Draco's face, and she wondered what expression he was wearing.

"Are you informing me that someone is impersonating me?" Draco asked.

Harry looked so put out by the way this conversation was going. Ginny couldn't help but laugh, and that caused Draco to swear, therefore giving their whole plot away.

Draco and Ginny weren't just great together when it came to being Aurors. They were also a great practical joker team. They were known for driving people crazy with their schemes. There had been a few famous ones, but not so famous as when they snuck boxes full of transfigured Flobberworms into the Experimental Charms department. It had taken them a week to figure out that they were nothing but uninteresting Flobberworms. It was the talk of the Ministry, and Kingsley had been laughing as he reprimanded them for wasting valuable time.

Harry threw up his hands. "I just can't with the two of you. Get ready, we have to be at St. Mungo's soon."

When Ginny was dressed and Draco once again had a shirt on, they Apparated to the hospital. Harry was already there, trying to give them a run down on Lavender Brown's current condition.

"She keeps saying she wants Weasley, but she screamed when we brought in Ron, so Ginny is our best bet at this moment. Malfoy, you may want to stay out of the room with me," Harry attempted to order.

Ginny halted in her steps. "Malfoy is MY partner, and he goes where I go until there is a real reason for him not to do so. Now excuse me. I have a job to do."

And with that, Ginny and Draco breezed into Lavender's room.

The first thing Ginny noticed was that the room was very dark. Blinds drawn, minimal light. And Lavender was lying in a bed straight ahead. Her eyes widened as she saw Ginny, but she made no attempt to scream. In fact, she beckoned Ginny closer.

Draco lingered a few steps back, casing out the room. Nothing seemed to be suspicious, but who really knew. He supposed they would have to call in Granger to search for Muggle electronics in this room.

"Weasley," Lavender breathed as Ginny approached her bed.

Lavender had not been healed, per Harry's request. Every cut and bruise had been documented so they could be investigated at a later date. She looked gaunt and pale, as though meals had been few and far between. Her hair was knotted so badly Ginny wondered if it would ever come untangled, and there was a haunted look to Lavender's eyes, as though she had seen something terrible that would live with her for the rest of her days. Ginny supposed she had.

"Lavender," Ginny murmured softly, "what happened?"

Lavender blinked away tears as she said, "He is preparing himself for his conquest. He wants to kill everyone who stands in the way of him having the woman he loves. It is like he has no idea what real love is. He is sick and twisted. He wanted me to do things, and then got mad that my hair wasn't the right color, or my breasts were too big. He is going to kill a bloody path, Weasley."

"For who?" Ginny asked. "Who does he want?"

Lavender Brown had tears rolling down her face as she said, "I am so sorry. For you, Ginny Weasley. He wants you."